The Fall of a Petal
by MizzyPlatinum
Summary: High School AU where Zeref's life becomes full of life and color the second he meets Mavis. Zervis. Fluff. Cover Image by my Waifu Nanakoblaze.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**_

 **Decided to try writing a Zervis fic for my waifu, Nanakoblaze. This is going to be a short little thing maybe like 2 or 3 chapters long! So I hope you all like it and that I don't butcher Zervis.**

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 **XOXOX**

It was strange really, the feeling of wanting to die. It was something that would throb in the back of the mind like a poisoned arrow—especially every time you did something wrong.

Like when Zeref answered the question wrong in class and although no laughed or even snickered and the teacher was rather nice about it, he found himself wishing he was dead. Or when he forgot to do his homework or when he made his team lose in gym class—he wanted to die.

It was also the loneliness. It was practically drowning him, making him feel deranged as he gasped for some kind of human interaction like a dying man's last breath. But eventually, Zeref learned how to float among the lonely, deep sea.

Thinking back, Zeref was always alone. At first he would argue it was his own choosing. He was better off alone. No one could disappoint him, leave him with nothing but false promises.

Except it was the complete opposite of that.

Zeref didn't want to be alone. He wanted to find someone who could understand him. Who he could laugh and share the world with, but everyone left him out. Forever stuck on the outside, watching the inside world flourish, leaving him all by his lonesome self.

Hell, even his brother seemed to do a better job fitting in even with his reckless 'fight me' attitude. His brother found someone special. Someone who made him softer and opened him up and Zeref immensely envied him.

It was like there was a curse surrounding Zeref. No matter what he did, people ended up hating him. The friends he made—they abandoned him the second they made cooler friends. Zeref even tried art club, finding that his aching heart felt oddly better once his brush touched the canvas. And despite all the praises he would get on his artwork by the teachers and by younger students, his fellow classmates—who were all friends with one another—isolated him.

They would sneer at his work. "It's alright _I guess,_ but there are soo many better people than _him._ "

It left a cold ache inside his chest.

Why wasn't he good enough?

What was wrong with him?

His hands clutched the school's dainty paint brush to cease their sudden shakiness. His stomach felt queasy. His heart was beating fast. He was sick of it—sick of not belonging. And once again, he found himself thinking of death. How much better the world would be without him. How useless his existence was. He was nothing more than a parasite to the earth.

He wanted to die—"Excuse me," a small voice said, tapping his clothed shoulder. Zeref jumped, startled not from being touched, but that someone was actually talking to him. He looked up and saw the sun blazing through the window, blinding him. Squinting, he looked up at the mysterious voice to see a tiny girl, no taller than 5'2", gazing down at him with curious green eyes. The light from the sun illuminated her long, wavy blonde hair making it look almost like a halo around her body.

Almost like an angel.

 _An angel of death._ Zeref snickered to himself.

"That's a beautiful painting," the girl said, pointing to his canvas. Her voice was rather pretty, which Zeref found odd to think. Were voices something you could even consider pretty?

"Painting?" he repeated, gazing over to where her finger was at. His dark eyes met his own canvas to see a painting of a Sakura Tree—not just any Sakura Tree, but his favorite one. It was a hidden spot in the school garden. The spot where Zeref spent all his lunches (Even though Natsu would invite him to sit with him and Lucy, Zeref didn't want to be the third wheel).

"Ahh right—thank you!" said Zeref, wondering if he sounded as sincere as he felt. He wasn't used to actual compliments; only backhanded ones. The feeling was foreign and Zeref liked it very much.

"You're welcome!" the girl beamed, her smile, in Zeref's opinion, was even brighter than the glaring sun and in the lighting, his fingers itched to paint her. "You know what would look really great in this painting?"

"What?"

"Fairies!" She grinned, tossing her arms up in the air like jazz hands.

"Fairies?" Zeref echoed, his face scrunching up slightly.

"Fairies!" she said again. "Fairies make everything better! And make sure you add a tail—because I'm almost certain they have tails"

Was this girl even real? Zeref scratched his head. Had he found someone whose weirdness matched his own? No way, he thought, shaking his head.

"Is it based on a real place?" she inquired, breaking up his inner thoughts.

"Yeah it is—"

"I knew it!" She clapped her hands together in joy. "Hnngh I wanna visit a beautiful place like that."

Feeling a surge of bravery, Zeref said, "I could take you there if you'd like." And he froze, unable to believe that he just invited someone to his sacred place—a place he called his home. A place where no mean people could get to him.

Although this girl didn't seem mean at—but they are never mean in the beginning. First it's the friendship and then they get bored of him or they find someone they like better.

It was always the same.

 _People are always the same._

"I'd love to!" Mavis said, her smile never wavering and she even grabbed Zeref's hand, pulling him off of his stool, and for a second, he forgot that _he_ was the one supposed to be leading _her_ as he allowed himself to be dragged off on an adventure. "I bet we'll be able to see fairies there!"

And Zeref found himself laughing—like _actually_ laughing. His eyes squinted closed, a smile tore across his cheeks. Something swelled inside his chest like a whirl of wind.

What was this feeling?

Did it have a name?

"Mavis," she said.

"Huh?" Zeref's eyes blinked open, meeting the girl's brilliant green stare.

"My name is Mavis."

 **XOXOX**

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 **Hope this turned out okay :3**

 **And thank you all so much for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wahh thank you all so much for the kind words regarding this fic! It really means a lot! I hope you all like this chapter!**

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 **XOXOX**

Being with Mavis was like breathing air for the first time. If there was a word to describe her, it was vibrant. If there was a color, it was rainbow. She was an array of colors that made Zeref's world change one by one.

"This place is beautiful," breathed Mavis, gazing at the pink Sakura petals that rained around them like tiny fairies. "Definitely the home of fairies."

"But there aren't any fairies," Zeref dumbly pointed out, titling his head at Mavis as if it would help him grasp a better understanding of this bizarre girl.

"That's because they can sense you're a non-believer," she said, leering suspiciously.

"Probably," he said, a small smile touched his lips. "Everything's my fault."

"Everything?" Mavis mused, eyeing him carefully. "Like even world hunger?"

"Well—"

"War?"

"I—"

"That time I broke my arm climbing a tree when I was 5 years old?"

Zeref faltered.

"Shame on you, Zeref! It took me _forever_ to heal!" chided Mavis sternly, although Zeref could see the slight twitch on her lips letting him know she was fighting off a smile.

He chuckled, eyeing the strange girl carefully. Her green eyes were so hypnotizing and her blonde hair twirled in the light breeze, decorating her hair with the pink Sakura petals. Zeref leaned over and brushed a hand through her hair. It was as silky as it looked.

"W-What are you…?"

"The petals keep falling in your hair," he murmured, pulling a petal out and twirling it distractedly between his index finger and thumb.

Mavis' cheeks were pink like the petal. "Y-You have petals in your hair as well!"

"Do I?" Zeref reached up to run a hand through his hair, but a small hand encircled his wrist, pulling his arm back down.

"Don't!" she said, her cheeks darkening from the light Sakura pink to the shade of a red rose. "It makes you look like a prince."

"A prince?"

"A prince of the fairies!—A spriggan!" Although Zeref had no idea if a spriggan was a fairy prince or not, Mavis' smile was so dazzling that he smiled back and for the first time he was happy that he was responsible for something—that something was Mavis' smile.

When Zeref went home that evening, he found himself desperately wanting to go back to school the next day. Falling asleep was next to impossible. His mind was still flowing from all the information that he and Mavis had shared with one another.

He never told anyone about his love for magic out of fear of judgment and Mavis seemed to think that was the coolest thing ever. And in return, Mavis told him about her love for anime and how she was raised in abusive household (which followed to Zeref's own tragic past about how his parents died). It was stuff he never thought he would ever share and stuff he thought no one would ever care about. And someone, for the brief time they talked, she made him feel _important,_ like his existence was more than being just a mere parasite on this Earth. It was like he had a purpose.

He touched a hand over his rapidly beating heart. Was this warmth inside his chest the feeling of friendship, he wondered. And instead of sleeping, he found himself painting a picture he titled the 'Fairy and the Sparggin' that featured a boy smothered in darkness entranced by a beautiful fairy girl bathing in a golden light.

 **XOXOX**

The following day, almost _everyone_ noticed a change in Zeref's attitude and they were somewhat weirded out by this. Natsu made a joke about the ugly look on his face—which Lucy reprimanded him for and told Zeref how cute he looks when he smiles (Natsu wasn't too happy about that).

Zeref brought his painting to school and carried it to his art class, wanting to show it to Mavis. He was so proud of it. Probably one of the best paintings he's ever made. Of course that was his personal opinion. He sat down at his art table, placing the painting down carefully to study it as he eagerly awaited Mavis' arrival.

However class started and Mavis still hadn't shown up.

People walked over and complimented the drawing. They told him that it had a different feel than his other paintings. That the mood and the passion in it was lovely to look at. Zeref smiled weakly. Of course they would tell him they liked his art. They were just being nice.

Like a whirlpool in the ocean, Zeref's thought started get sucked into his negativity. How could he possibly think this painting was good? Maybe he was getting too arrogant—something he had always dreaded. He never wanted to be full of himself, but to the contrary, that's what he envied most about his brother. Natsu was able to be arrogant and cocky no matter what the situation is. Why couldn't Zeref be like that? Why was he so contradictive?

And what about Mavis—What if she hated it? What if she thought he was creepy for drawing them together after they had only just met?

This was a really bad idea and he thanked his lucky stars that Mavis hadn't shown up today. He gathered up his painting and left class because it wasn't like his presence would be missed as his fellow classmates painted and joked with one another, as per usual, leaving Zeref out.

Zeref held the painting tightly in hands with great contempt. He wanted to rip it to shreds or set it on fire. It was so ugly—so horrible—so—

"Can I please go to class now?" a small, pretty voice asked.

Zeref jolted to a stop in the middle of the empty hallway. His head snapped to the left to look into the school infirmary. Mavis was there, seated on one of the school beds. She had tubes in her nose.

"Are you feeling up to it?" the nurse asked.

"Yes!" beamed Mavis, fist bumping the air. "Never felt better!"

"Alright," the nurse chuckled lightly. "I guess I can let you go back, but if you start to feel—"

"I know, I know," said Mavis, brushing the nurse off as she ripped the tubes from out of her nose and grabbed her bag from off the floor. She turned towards the door and froze, her catlike eyes landed directly on Zeref. His stomach coiled and this strange fluttering sensation overcame his heart.

Her face lit up like the morning sun. "Zeref!" She raced out of the room. "What a surprise to see you! Where are you going? Shouldn't you be in class—you're not cutting, are you?"

"I—"

Mavis' grin turned devilish as she looked side-to-side. "Let's cut together." She grabbed Zeref's hand in her tiny one and they broke into a run to their secret spot under the Sakura tree.

To Zeref's chagrin, he never did find time to dispose of his ugly art piece and Mavis didn't even hesitate to look at it.

"Whoaaa," Mavis awed, "this is…this is…"

Zeref ducked his head, waiting for what she was going to say. She was nice, so she would tell him it looked good and then she would probably make up some excuse to leave—

"This is the most beautiful painting I think I have ever seen! The wings look lovely and oh! You even drew a tail! And it's so accurate—I mean look how negative you drew yourself! I think we need to change that—Can I keep this?"

"I-If you really want it," said Zeref, stunned.

She hugged the picture to her chest. The action made his heart swell with both pride and elatedness. But his smile fell slightly from his face because of something nagging in the back of his head. "Hey about the oxygen tubes you were wearing—"

"Oh I got lightheaded earlier," Mavis said, her face pulling into a tight smile and then she abruptly broke eye contact.

Zeref frowned, reading the sudden change in the girl's attitude. She had given him a fake smile—the type of smile Zeref usually sported on his face and he didn't like that at all. So standing up, Zeref held his hand out and said, "Want to leave school?"

Mavis gasped, her pale cheeks tinting pink like they did the day before. She timidly put her hand in his and said, "Go where?"

"On an adventure to find the fairies!" Zeref grinned.

A real smile broke out on her astonished face and while Zeref knew they wouldn't find real fairies, he made sure to take her to his favorite magic shop where they sold fairy wands and stones (objects believed to be channelers of fairies), knowing how much _that_ would make Mavis smile.

And before either of them realized it, they were falling in love like a petal falling from the Sakura Tree, wildly captured by the wind as it slowly—yet swiftly fell to the ground.

 **XOXOX**

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 **Hope this chapter turned out okay! It's really strange writing a different pairing :0 I get so nervous lol**

 **And my waifu Nanakoblaze made the cover image, you can see a better version on her tumblr:**

 **nanakoblaze (.com)/post/145912139241/zervis-random-background-practice-read-the**

 **THANKS FOR READING!**


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